U.S. Geothermal Chief Calls for Level Playing Field for All Renewables

The current challenge for the geothermal energy industry is what U.S. Geothermal CEO Dennis Gilles calls “leveling the playing field” with wind and solar.

“We’re competing with the wind and solar companies,” Gilles said during the Geothermal Resources Council 39th Annual Meeting opening session in Reno, Nev., on Sept. 21. “They have incentives, and as a result of their dramatic growth, they have seen their costs come down dramatically.”

Gilles said that until the incentives change for the wind and solar industries, and until there is additional growth or technological breakthroughs in the geothermal energy industry that allows geothermal producers to lower costs, the geothermal industry is going “to continue to be challenged.”